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Jamero Shares Insights and Hardships Growing Up Brown
 “I may have been like other boys, but there was a major difference–my family included 80 to 100 single young men residing in a Filipino farm-labor camp. . . . As a campo boy, I began to see the two faces of America, a place where Filipinos were at once welcomed and excluded, were considered equal and were discriminated against. It was a place where the values of fairness and freedom often fell short when Filipinos put them to the test.”
– Peter Jamero
Peter Jamero’s story of hardship and success illuminates the experience of what he calls the “bridge generation”—the American-born children of the Filipinos recruited as farm workers in the 1920s and 30s. Their experiences span the gap between these early immigrants and those Filipinos who owe their U.S. residency to the liberalization of immigration laws in 1965. A sequel of sorts to Carlos Bulosan’s America Is in the Heart, Jamero’s story resonates with themes of heartbreaking struggle against racism and poverty, and eventual triumph.
Jamero recounts his early life in a farm-labor camp in Livingston, California, and the path that took him, through naval service and graduate school, far beyond Livingston. A longtime community activist and civic leader, Jamero describes decades of toil and progress before the Filipino community entered the sociopolitical mainstream. He shares a wealth of reflections from his career as an executive of health and human service programs in Sacramento, Washington, D.C., Seattle, and San Francisco.
Click here for the book flyer (in Adobe PDF for viewing and printing). |
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5 Comments
Dr. Narcisa Ann C. Tuliao
Thoroughly enjoyed Peter’s blog. Sharing current successful Filipinos is inspiring and impressive. Thank you and please continue the good work.
N. Ann C. Tuliao, Ed D
.*My mothet’s father, my maternal grandfather, was a musician, played flute, in one of the USS President Lines in the 1920s, while my father’s father, my paternal grandfather, was a bunk cook in Imperial Valley, Highway 4, west of Stockton, and in Salinas, and many other farms. I am very proud of them.
Felicia Craggs
Hi Peter,
My grandfather worked in the fields in and around Stockton. He was born in the Philippines. Funny, at first I thought he was in one of your pictures! It’s unfortunate that I know very little about him, even after trying to find out more from my mother. I’ve been researching my ancestry, I’m really hoping to learn more. I love the title of your book “Growing Up Brown” I have said that many times and can totally relate!
Peter Jamero
Hi Felicia:
Many thanks for your kind comments re my book. As to your grandfather — what picture do you think he was in; and what was his name/nickname? I might be able to recognize him for you. Also, what is your maiden name? Looks like we’re in the same generation and may have met.
All the best, Peter
Norberto
Hi Uncle Pete…this is Bert G. Jamero, in San Francisco, needs your help if you can spare a copy of the family tree we instigated way back 1990? We are forming a Jamero’s in Mindanao to patch up Garcia Hernandez ( Jamero’s Clan , my e-mail add: lydnorjam@att.net!!!phone:650-636-4675…Than you and God Bless🙏🙏🙏
Peter Jamero
Hi Bert: Good to hear from you. My daughter, Julie, will be sending you the Ceferino and Apolonia Jamero Family Tree. Good luck on your project…….Uncle Pete